(Above) Pietro Francesco Cavalli's Erismena, which precedes other Italian operas performed in Britain by 30 years. Courtesy Bodleian Library
A library is bidding to save the earliest surviving score of an English language opera.
Oxford’s Bodleian collection has until January 6 2009 to raise the £85,000 asking price for Erismena, after the government placed a bar on the manuscript being sold to overseas collectors due to its “outstanding significance for the study of the history of music in the UK.”
Written by Pietro Francesco Cavalli, the pre-eminent Italian opera composer of the 17th century, Erismena dates from the 1670s, 30 years before any other Italian operas were performed in Britain.
Emma Kirkby, Honorary Doctor of Music at the University of Oxford, described the score as a “landmark of our musical history.” She said: “I am tremendously excited to hear that an entire Cavalli opera manuscript has survived, dating from decades before Handel came to this country, and that there is a chance for the Bodleian Library to acquire it.”
The purchase would represent something of a homecoming for Erismena, after recent research revealed that the score was sold by two former Professors of Music at the university in 1797. It would join a host of prestigious works at the archive, which is the second largest research library in the country, including the earliest copy of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
“This campaign is very timely,” said Oana Romocea, of the Bodleian Library. “The Bodleian winter exhibition opens next week and happens to feature the British choral tradition, so we really want to appeal to all the music lovers who will be visiting.”
Eric Clarke, Heather Professor of Music at the university, cited Erismena as “a unique link” in Anglo-Italian opera tradition. “The substantial manuscript is rare in being complete, and is of great historical significance,” he said. “I hope we will be able to save it for future generations of researchers.”
Anyone wishing to make a donation can visit www.giving.ox.ac.uk/erismena or call the library on 01865 611553.
Hallelujah: the British Choral Tradition will be open from November 28 2008 to April 25 2009, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. and Saturday 9am to 4.30pm in the Exhibition Room, Old Schools Quadrangle, Catte Street, Oxford. Admission is free.
